Wool classing
Wool classing is an occupation for which people are trained to produce uniform, predictable, low risk lines of wool. This is carried out by examining the characteristics of the wool in its raw state. The characteristics which a wool classer would examine are:
Breed of the sheep: Shedding breeds will increase the risk of medulated and/or pigmented fibres. Any sheep likely to have dark fibres should be shorn last to avoid contamination. The age of the sheep will have a bearing on the fibre diameter and value of wool, too.
Chemical usage: Ensure that all rules have been followed.
Brands,
seedy jowls and
shanks: Must be removed from fleeces and broken.
Stain: Must be removed from bellies and fleeces and identified in a separate line.
Wool crimp: The number of bends per unit length along the wool fibre approximately indicates spinning capacity of the wool. Fibres with a fine crimp have many bends and usually have a small diameter. Such fibre can be spun into fine yarns, with great lengths of yarn for a given weight of wool, and greater market value.